Vispo New College of Florida

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

A Humument is a really satisfying thing to hold in your hand. It's very nicely bound and printed. The pages are expensive feeling, and the colors are rich. My fondness of it doesn't go much further.

There's a recurring narrative if you choose to accept it as such. "Toge," something that functions as an actor in several of the pieces, provides a bit of continuity. It is impossible to deny that further continuity comes from the fact that the individual poems are all torn from the same novel. Other than that, I feel that the work is extremely scattered, and while the aleatoric nature of the book leads to meaning-slippage and cerebral high jinks, it's not for me the pinnacle of artistic enterprise.

To me, it feels as if the piece was a great idea that had to be gotten done before someone else took it. It's interesting to this end that the webpage offers newer renditions of the poems. In one way this is progressive. It provides a space for poetry that is dynamic, susceptible to change. On the other it may suggest that Phillips could have held off on publishing the work until he was completely satisfied with it.

It's rather pretentious, in my mind, that Phillips constructs phrases throughout the piece such as "now the arts connect" and "here is art" (7,8), when the mixing of visual and verbal has been prevalent since the dawn of advertising and freeform typefaces. I think A Humument is a little gimmicky for such grandiose suggestions.

My gripes aside, the piece does end up humorous at turns. These moments are for me the highest points of its success. Here, parody works and draws attention to the distinctions between the page and the reader, reevaluating inside and outside and the sacredness of the text. It seems necessary that the thing be taken lightly like that, because all told it's not that much more extraordinary than refrigerator poetry on top of blackened margins.

One of the most striking series of works in this anthology was the collage postcards by John Ashbery. I am not too familiar with Ashbery’s work, so I cannot speculate on the author’s intended meaning. However, the postcards do function in a particular way for me.

One of the things I noticed immediately upon looking at these postcards was the bizarre juxtapositions of incompatible objects—a free-floating heading pasted on top of a cactus, a cat head on top of a fountain, a cartoon dog next to the statue of liberty, and so forth. Many of the postcards also have anachronistic elements. For example, the last collage of the series is of a Victorian looking arm holding a wine glass pasted over an image of a rural town. This piece also draws my attention to the contrast between the civilized and uncivilized. The hand delicately grips the glass in an almost aristocratic manner, while the rural background suggests rustic naivety and simplemindedness.

Another striking piece is the one on page 139. The tension depicted in this piece is between chaos and control. An ecstatic-looking man occupies the center of piece. His expression is almost manic. His mouth is gaped, he has no shoes on and it is obvious that he is in a jumping position. He appears to be in the middle of an unfettered act of defiance. This is also supported by the fact that he is wearing a suit and is obviously engaging in deviant behavior. Beneath him are waves crashing against rocks. In the background of the top left corner of the postcard is an image of religious stained-glass windows. The religious elements suggest control, austerity, and prudishness. Conversely, the man and waves suggest chaos, disorder, and deviance.

I read the Humument cover-to-cover a while ago, but I don’t remember too many details about the content.

However, I feel that the concept of the book itself can be related to post-structuralist ideas of authorial control as well as Lacanian linguistic concepts. The post-structuralists assert that the author does not have control over the meaning of a text once it is produced. Texts function as a sort of autonomous object that can produce infinite meanings. Tom Phillips seems to be toying with this idea by taking a text and deliberately alternating in a way that produces a different meaning. By doing this he is de-centering and destabilizing meaning itself. Tom also denies the author total control of a text by using the novel to create a new text.

Similarly, Lacan thought that there was no continuity between the signifier and signified. There is always a failure of signs to achieve their proper meaning because there is no direct or innate relationship between the signifier and signifier. By altering a Victorian novel, the Humument draws our attention to the inability for the original ‘sign’ (A Human Document) to achieve its ‘proper’ meaning (the original plot of the text). The ambiguity of the Humument is also a reflection of the disconnection between signifier and signified.

The most intriguing aspect of this collection, for me, was the concept of its physical/textual transformation from nineteenth-century novel, into a modern exploration of visual poetry - primarily through means of one artist recycling another's work. In using W. H. Mallock's "A Human Document" as his base, Tom Phillips' reworking of the text is reminiscent of the inherently circular nature of creativity. And what does Phillips' reworking of the original text imply? How does it contribute to the meaning and themes of the original text? Also, the book's focus on the visual quality of each page/poem, and the way each poem conveys a different and spontaneous subject, distracts from the quality and meaning of the actual poetry. The poems are often disjointed and unclear, lacking many of the qualities prized in "good" poetry. In the abscence of impressive poetry, the detailed and vibrant images of the collection are emphasized. The images seem to be seperate from the poetry itself, lending no further imagery or illustration to the poem it encloses. Overall, I found this ambitious collection to be an interesting and visually stimulating read, but lacking in an overarching, coherent theme.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

I guess I should talk about Humament, which is probably the most amazing thing I've flipped through in a long while. This book helped me understand the real meaning behind visual poetry. To be honest, before reading this book, I had a hard time deciphering between "good" and "not so good" visual poetry, which is necessary to know before attempting to WRITE visual poetry. Humament defines visual poetry for me in two ways:first, the form itself is a critique of the "word on the page," taking the most loaded and self-aware genre of writing, victorian prose, and simplifying it to "the best words in their best order," a poem. Using the empty space left after editing the text, visual art, in this case paintings, fuse the gaps between the words. Visual poetry, then, is not poetry with words, it is the written word combined with visuals as one complete art form.

Secondly, what makes Humament so integral in my understanding of visual poetry is the fact that if needed, these poems could stand alone without the visuals. I understand visual poetry as poetry ENHANCED by visuals, and hopefully not the other way around. What I have categorized as "bad" or less well crafted visual poetry seems to consist of kitchy objects simply decorated with words.I guess to summarize, the difference between good and not so well crafted vis. poetry lies in the difference between creative and cleaver art. Humament is of course, the former.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Is there a narrative? Probably, but I could not tell. I just closed my eyes and landed on random pages when I started reading the book. I was feeling uncomfortable (I guess that’s the word) with the beginning theme of “this is my book, this is what it stands for”, the “humument” that was being created, toges and so forth. But I suspect that if there were a stable narrative or plot I would question whether it were purposefully drawn out by the poet or one looking too much into linear sequencing and it just so happens that those were the words that created the poem that Phillips saw fit to create or one just seeing the correlation of the words used as poetry with the words of the Human Document.

I found the artwork fitting in some cases and empty in others, but I think it was the variation of style that caught me. The artwork either echoed the themes of the poetry on the page or stood silent to let the words speak for themselves. Pleasing to the eye, but rarely as stimulating as some of the poetry. Overall, when I first laid my hands on the book I was excited. It had the guise of the masterpiece I had been waiting for all my life because it is tediously creative and beautiful. But with a second and third glance through it’s glossy pages, I began to understand it more for its purpose which I believe (sorta) to be, rewriting history in a politically, socially, climactic time as the 1970s. Stenciling over the Victorian age itself with a breathe of ingenuity and fantastic art in most of it’s pages.

The Sienese Shredder as a whole was a bit too scattered brained for me to wrap my head around. The scheme was random and threw me off from one page to the next. I did not enjoy most of the non-visual poetry scattered between dense prose pieces. My absolute favorite “chapter” of the entire collection were Jane Hammond’s paintings (108-121). I know that Hammond was influenced by and collaborated with John Ashberry, another contributor to this collection, and I believe that there are a decent amount of similarity in their works presented in this book. Both artists are displacing objects, faces, animals etc. to reconstruct the meaning of the context in which they are placed and essentially destroy its original meaning. She disembodies the meaning of something as simple as the classic century old maps, the ones with sea serpents and sirens drawn for atheistic appeal. She replaces the serpents and sirens with a boyscotts tent, racing swimmers, a beaded necklace, an igloo and all sorts of interesting depictions of modernity. The title of the piece “A Parliament of Refrigerator Magnets” leads the reader to believe that these images are copies of refrigerator magnets painted strategically to create an ironic map of random, somewhat, “contemporary” images to disembody the “classic” map of its meaning and identify it with a new “modern” meaning to apply to contemporary life. Much of her other work applies the same disembodiment/ironic/comical aspects of displacing photos onto other photos to create new meaning and create a dialogue of social commentary such as her piece “Midwife to Gargoyles”. The faces of gargoyles replace that of a typical 50s looking America family. In short her contribution to The Sienese Shredder was amazing

This book was indeed a sort of cut-and-paste accumulation of art, prose and poetry. Some pieces, like the Osap's Fables, seem at first glance to be completely nonsensical, while others seem to follow thought patterns. The shorter prose paragraphs often fell lyrically upon the ear enough for me to consider them poetry, and in fact often seemed to debate this fact within themselves. I actually found that my favorite piece wasn't one of the cut-up bits that give the Shredder it's unique internal look, but was actually one of the first pieces that falls into the 'prose' category. Gerard de Nerval's Chantilly is an expression of a place, a snapshot almost. The author gives to us his reminiscence about a place he obviously loves, from visual impressions to the memories they inspire, the character of which infinitely colors the impression of the place. Much like Chantilly lace he lays out the places and customs as you might excpect, and then he drops in the harshness of reality, deaths and sorrow that bring the rosy quality of the memories to a much deeper and more soulful hue. This piece is an exceptional example of what I feel gives way to the always present question, what is poetry?

Monday, April 16, 2007

Simply put, The Sienese Shredder is an annual journal of art, literature, poetry, and culture. I can say confidently this is definitely what it is because I personally went to sienese-shredder.com and, you know, that's what it says. It was very interesting to read. I can't say every single entry interested me. A lot of the more, er, academic entries tended to... not necessarily bore me, but they definitely did not excite me as much as the more poem-esque entries did. I especially liked Denise Duhamel's Ghost Weave. Maybe it's because I like ghosts or maybe it's because I've always wanted a brother, but I found Ghost Weave to be extremely entertaining. I mean, it was three stories pretty much in one! It also inspired me to do my own weave poem and I think I, along with plenty of others I am sure, tend to hold near and dear to my heart works of art that inspire me to create something of my own.

I also liked Edwin Denby's poem about the "no-nonsense escalator." See, I'm scared of escalator's because my Grandma was a scary person that told me really nonsensical things about ordinary everyday objects that transformed them, in my mind, into monstrosities. The escalator was one of them. And I am sure plenty of other kids can admit to being horrified by the story about the boy whose foot got stuck in the escalator. I mean, it's a traumatizing thing when you're seven years old. So I think the poem really hit a reminiscent spot for me which helped me to identify with it and ultimately cherish it.

Actually, I really liked all of The Sienese Shredder. Even the boring parts were more exciting than reading the usual monotony that people read in things like Time magazine everyday. And there was just something about the journal, beyond the entries, just a general feel about it I guess you could say, that really seemed to resonate with me. I felt like it's a journal that represents a new chapter in the life of art, a chapter that I get to be experiencing first hand, and as cheesy as that may sound, I'm not going to lie; I'm excited.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

"If you believe that not everything can be told in a book,words know how to find their own wayand, left to themselves, decide where to land." -- Marie Chaix

Operating on a loose definition of "words" as the actual messages they express, the works withinThe Sienese Shredder collectively reflect Chaix's principle. She illustrates by narration alone the flexibility of language as universal enough to transcend convention, while John Ashbery and Jane Hammond manipulate images and scarce text in order to conceptually test the limits of this flexibility.

While most of the book's entries challenge my rejection of language as mere iconology, poets Jane Hammond, Ron Padgett and Chris Edgar reinforce it. I inherently classify poetry, however narrowly, as an art most heavily dependent on its language -- the way they're arranged on the page or stressed vocally. I suppose more innovative means of presenting a poetic idea or story allow for a wider range of interpretations (and isn't personalized catharsis art's goal?)... but visual poetry like Ashbery's and Hammond's, when presented alongside more conventional free verse poems, seem to contain messages too far removed from the artist's original emotional intent.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

I found “The Sienese Shredder” to be a strange accumulation of essays on life and art, artwork, poetry and prose that investigates (and, in my opinion, pushes the boundaries of) what justifies poetry as such. The bizarre text definitely provides an interesting, enjoyable read, but I feel that the authors sometimes take their exploration of the ridiculous a bit too intensely. For example, Jess’s “Oesap’s Faebles” seemingly random capitalizations and peculiar, multi-directional storyline seemed to subtract from the overall piece, rather than add the surreal nonsensicality which seemed to be the goal. This theme of absurdity to the point of pure silliness reflects a few times throughout the text, although the overall impression portrayed is one of strange yet admirable works.

My favorite piece (besides, of course, our dear Carbo’s :P), is Ron Padgett’s “The Absolutely Huge and Incredible Injustice in the World,” a nouveau work humorously outlining the irony of the unjust and inescapable disposition of mankind. He juxtaposes genuine inquiries and proclamations of human nature, such as “What makes us so mean?,” “It is hard not to be appalled by existence,” and “Life is so awful!” with amusing images of gorillas, hippos, and other oddities, overly dramatic ejaculations, and arbitrary tangents. In doing so, Padgett quite effectively lends a sense of outlandish humor to what could have been a drearily serious work.

Another choice example is, in my opinion, Harry Mathews’s “Romantic Poem,” which, barring the title, would not leave any notion of romantics. I enjoy how the title adds a new dimension to the poem and forces the reader to search for hidden meanings between lines.

All that said, I totally want to kidnap the puppy pictured on the postcard on page 144. How cute can you get? :)

The title to this post is a line from a Ron Padgett poem, but I'm going to talk about John Ashbery right now. Ashbery's contribution really made visual poetry "click" for me. Being acquainted with his more traditional "lines on paper" poetry, I saw the same voice and sentiment revealed in both mediums: eclectic pop culture references, whimsy/irreverence, interrelating the high and low and most importantly a real aesthetic beauty. It is even arguable that Ashbery's lack of narrative "I" and audience in much of his verse really comes through in these visual works as well. As postcards, they are meant to be delivered. Ashbery stunts that ritual by manipulating the message (with his collage) and betraying the audience (by not sending them).

Among the pieces selected for The Sienese Shredder, I found “The New Crustacean” to be the most fascinating. Kreg Hasegawa’s short story is riddled with holes, each of which is so surrounded by familiar constructions that the reader easily creates possibilities that might fill the vacancies. The execution (this from a student in contemporary academia) is hardly unsettling, in large part because it is presented in a warm tone and with a near flippancy in regard the narrator’s choices of omissions. Commentary is made on the way stories are told – not just in regard to literature, but to the quotidian recollection of a days and weeks, and to the subjects of language which need not be specific to function.

A warning is offered right at the offset that concrete subjects will be problematic throughout the text. The narrator states that he (“a father, a brother, a lover, a friend”) cannot tell about himself because “you’d only be further from the truth.” He sets up the technique that will dominate the rest of the text by stating that he is “determined entirely by context.” The reader learns that he has a family, a past, and at the end he hitches a ride toward an indeterminate future, but the details are not offered. In one instance, no circumstances are disclosed of an event which overtakes the narrator with nausea and pain. All that exists are the peripheries and consequences, and the reader is left to imagine endless possibilities that could assume the event.

The most striking example of this occurs when the narrator prepares himself to return to the site of a family camping trip. The site is not described, but simply by its being an attraction because of its lake, vivid images which must differ from reader to reader cascade through its absence. The same is true of whatever objects a clerk at the “large store” advises the narrator to bring along. He sheepishly purchases four of something we can almost picture clearly: fishing lures, boots, ponchos, meals-ready-to-eat, rifles, snake bite kits, compasses, styrofoam floaties, etc.

The commentary on how stories can exist with such absences suggests that ingrained in readers are types of narrative frameworks which stand nearly by themselves. In reflecting on “The New Crustacean,” it is hard not to think of Saussure and the structures of difference which make language possible. Per the theory of his successors, these structures stand as well without centers. By constructing walls such as the one where Hasegawa’s narrator purchases the unnamed supplies, the author creates empty spaces for images, the specificity of which are unimportant.

SYLLABUS

New College of Florida
Spring 2007
20318 Advanced Poetry:Visual, Concrete, and Avant-garde Poetry.
W 12:30-3:20 pm, Room: CFA 212
Prof: Nick Carbó
email: ncarbo@ncf.edu, ncarbo@aol.com
Office hours: PMD 215, Tuesday 2-5pm, and by appointment.
Required texts:
Modern Visual Poetry by Willard Bohn, (University of Delaware Press, 2001). ISBN: 0874137101
The Sienese Shredder # 1, Winter 2006-2007. Edited by Brice Brown and Trevor Winkfield. (Sienese Shredder Editions, 2006). ISBN: 0978710800
A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel by Tom Phillips, (Thames & Hudson, 2005). ISBN: 0500285519
1. The work itself. The main focus of a creative writing class is the writing, objects, and visual texts produced by the students. I expect each one of you to have completed 10 finished and finely crafted poems/visual texts by the end of term. You will participate in several in-class writing exercises that will hone your sense of craft, expand your imagination, and lead you to explore various forms of creative written and visual expression. The work generated through these exercises will also be used for discussion to be submitted the next week. There can be no excuse for not having any work to submit to class. An unfinished piece can have many possibilities.
2. Final project. You must complete a final poetry/visual text project that will count heavily towards your final grade. The project can consist of designing and producing your own chapbook of poetry, creating a World Wide Web site with your poems, or making a 5-10 minute performance video of your poems. The project has to be done this semester for this particular class. Previous work for other classes does not qualify.
3. Reading assignments. The class will have its own blog space where students will post their responses to the assigned books. Posts should be at least three paragraphs in length. This will be a major part of your grade. The class blog is: www.visponewcollege.blogspot.com
4. Attendance. You may have two absences (excused or unexcused). Your final grade is heavily determined by your presence in class. Constant tardiness will be considered an absence. So, two late marks are equal to one absence. Coming in 30 minutes late and acting like nothing is wrong with that means you are obviously in denial that you will soon earn an F (not satisfactory) for the class. Being present for attendance at the start of class then leaving the class for periods longer than 10 minutes will be considered an absence. After two absences you will get an automatic F for the class. Don’t blame the professor for giving you an F because of tardiness of absences. You can earn an F as well as earn an A for the class. You are responsible for keeping track of your own absences.
5. Annoying cell phone ringing in class will earn you an F for the day.